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[carmenjj9]

I am an adjunct in a state institution. This is the first time I teach for this institution. I have over ten years of experience teaching full-time. Now I am teaching the second semester of a language class.   Some of the students have been comparing me to their previous instructors and complaining because they got better grades with them. The chair of the department has asked me to get the exams back from the students so that the coordinator reviews the way I grade.  Is that ethical? What do you think?

[concordancia]

While I can't imagine most students actually hang on to their exams, this seems like exactly the kind of thing we should be doing more often. It would be nice if at a programmatic level they could see which of the two is grading more in accordance with the program goals.

[anthroid]

Yes, it is ethical and it's an excellent idea.  Since this is a new institution for you, your grading tendencies might not match with the culture of the institution.  If you want to continue to teach there, you'll need to learn how to grade for this department.  It also is useful for students to have their work normed, particularly if they are majors.

Treat this as a learning experience, not an insult.  Good luck and let us know what happens!

[lizzy]

If it would be awkward and potentially unproductive to ask for the exams back, could you suggest submitting the next set of graded exams to the coordinator instead?

Have you spoken with any of your new colleagues about grading standards? At my place, all syllabi are kept on file in the departmental office; if yours does this too, you might find some rubrics, etc.

[dr_alcott]

Yes, it is ethical and it's an excellent idea.  Since this is a new institution for you, your grading tendencies might not match with the culture of the institution.  If you want to continue to teach there, you'll need to learn how to grade for this department.  It also is useful for students to have their work normed, particularly if they are majors.

Treat this as a learning experience, not an insult.  Good luck and let us know what happens!

This is my position as well.

For what it's worth, my department chair recently did an analysis of how every faculty member--including those of us who've been there for a decade or two--graded a common assignment for one of our core courses. It was indeed a learning experience.

[anon99]

Yes, it is ethical and it's an excellent idea.  Since this is a new institution for you, your grading tendencies might not match with the culture of the institution.  If you want to continue to teach there, you'll need to learn how to grade for this department.  It also is useful for students to have their work normed, particularly if they are majors.

Treat this as a learning experience, not an insult.  Good luck and let us know what happens!

This is my position as well.

For what it's worth, my department chair recently did an analysis of how every faculty member--including those of us who've been there for a decade or two--graded a common assignment for one of our core courses. It was indeed a learning experience.

For large classes, it might work well; but for smaller classes there can be so much variation between years due to the students themselves.  Even in a class of 50+, I've had a 5% difference between years (even when I gave them the EXACT same exam as a previous year-and yes the second time the average was lower). 

We've done this for classes where there are multiple lab sections.  If some of the lab sections have lower averages, we pull the grades from the lecture portion of the class where they are all graded on the same exam and attend the same class.  Sometimes the students in lab 1 and 2 have the same class average, but not in the labs (problem with the marking in the labs); but we've had cases where the average in the class is also lower (a group of weak students in that one lab section).

[concordancia]

Yes, it is ethical and it's an excellent idea.  Since this is a new institution for you, your grading tendencies might not match with the culture of the institution.  If you want to continue to teach there, you'll need to learn how to grade for this department.  It also is useful for students to have their work normed, particularly if they are majors.

Treat this as a learning experience, not an insult.  Good luck and let us know what happens!

This is my position as well.

For what it's worth, my department chair recently did an analysis of how every faculty member--including those of us who've been there for a decade or two--graded a common assignment for one of our core courses. It was indeed a learning experience.

For large classes, it might work well; but for smaller classes there can be so much variation between years due to the students themselves.  Even in a class of 50+, I've had a 5% difference between years (even when I gave them the EXACT same exam as a previous year-and yes the second time the average was lower). 

We've done this for classes where there are multiple lab sections.  If some of the lab sections have lower averages, we pull the grades from the lecture portion of the class where they are all graded on the same exam and attend the same class.  Sometimes the students in lab 1 and 2 have the same class average, but not in the labs (problem with the marking in the labs); but we've had cases where the average in the class is also lower (a group of weak students in that one lab section).

The point of looking at the actual exams is that the numbers aren't the issue, the grading process is the issue. The OP seems to teach a foreign language - perhaps the OP takes off for spelling or accent errors and other instructor's don't. Perhaps the OP doesn't give any points for incomplete sentences and other instructors do... Some foreign language professors care so much about grammar that if the verb is conjugated correctly, they don't even look at what the sentence does or does not say, others focus more on meaning.

[stillgoing]

What???  No, I think that this action does nothing but usurp your authority with the students.  Once this occurs, what is to stop every student with a non satisfactory grade from demanding that the same thing happen for them.  Not to mention academic freedom (in my mind, this includes grading submissions based on what you taught in the classroom).  Furthermore, asking you to have the exams returned once students have already been given the work and subsequently left the classroom makes you look even less reliable to the students.  Once your legitmacy is challenged in this way, what you have to share with students in terms of material won't matter a hill of beans in their eyes.

We teach in an atmosphere today that is conducive to students behaving as our clients rather than willing interested parties looking for education from experts.  I actually had a student last semester inform me (in front of the entire class) that the dates that I requitred that they attend class were unsatisfactory.  He then likened me to an employee that must work around his boss' schedule!  HAHAHAHHAH!  Needless to say, that conversation was cut off immediately.  But, yes, seriously, students are increasingly believing that this is their place in the higher education arena.

I will say, however, that not ALL students are like this.  Several expressed their dismay with the comment outside of the classroom and many more railed against it in my evals.  And there are still students that actually care about the knowledge that is imparted upon them. 

One last note.  If the chair would like to review your grading BEFORE you return the work, then I don't see a problem with that.  The students are none the wiser.  Your integrity remains in tact.  And the chair may very well be able to offer some useful insight into how to improve your grading technique.  But that is the only way that I'd agree to it.  Can you make this suggestion for the next round of grading, citing an enthusiastic acceptance of peer assistance that is win win for both student and instructor?

[polly_mer]

I've had to get work back from students for many reasons.  Consequently, I disagree that asking the students for the tests back somehow lessens the teacher's authority.  Yes, saying, "I'm under investigation for possible grading" would undermine authority, but simply saying, "Turn back in your tests on <date next week> with revisions attached as separate pages for X points", is good enough to get the tests back with a legitimate pedagogical purpose.

The students could learn something by doing the revisions along with your comments upon their return and you have the tests back to give to whomever.

[octoprof]

If it would be awkward and potentially unproductive to ask for the exams back, could you suggest submitting the next set of graded exams to the coordinator instead?

This. No need to ask for the exams back that you've already returned. That's over the top, in my opinion. However, having your grading reviewed is not a bad idea (and is standard at some universities, mostly outside the USA).

[stillgoing]

Consequently, I disagree that asking the students for the tests back somehow lessens the teacher's authority.  Yes, saying, "I'm under investigation for possible grading" would undermine authority, but simply saying, "Turn back in your tests on <date next week> with revisions attached as separate pages for X points", is good enough to get the tests back with a legitimate pedagogical purpose.

The students could learn something by doing the revisions along with your comments upon their return and you have the tests back to give to whomever.

I agree with this whole heartedly.  Just to clarify, though, if the OP has been asked to do this because of student complaints about the grading and the coordinator is reviewing in order to determine if OP should alter the grades, this would, IMHO, certainly usurp OP's authority.  BUT, if no grades will be altered, I think polly_mer suggests a great way to get them back without appearing to be a puppet of the department (not that you are or that the dept thinks that, but student perspective may be different).

[polly_mer]

Getting advice on a situation doesn't have to be the equivalent of being weak.  Good people seek advice on how to improve (when I was in a situation of being observed due to voluminous student complaints, that's how I explained the observation to the students).   One of the early writing exercises in my science for teachers classes is a quotation from Bertram Russell related to the strength of changing one's mind based on new information over the weakness of refusing to admit to having been wrong.

If the grades won't change, but the OP is getting advice on how to better reach these particular students (not lower standards, but fit in better with the culture), then that also can be spun as a strength, if anything has to be said at all on the why.

[geonerd]

If it would be awkward and potentially unproductive to ask for the exams back, could you suggest submitting the next set of graded exams to the coordinator instead?

This. No need to ask for the exams back that you've already returned. That's over the top, in my opinion. However, having your grading reviewed is not a bad idea (and is standard at some universities, mostly outside the USA).

+1.

I don't see ethical problems with asking for exams back, but I think it would be awkward. Some students may have lost them already, some may say no, others may interpret this to mean that the grades will be changed.

As a starting point, could you submit blank copies of your previous exams and your grading rubrics, then photocopy the next set of completed exams for the reviewer? Personally, I would want the reviewer to see the entire class, both the highs and lows and the overall group performance, not just the subset who agreed to return exams.

[spinnaker]

If you don't do what the chair requires, you're insubordinate. Let them worry about the ethics. I don't think I'd like this much if I were you, but I wouldn't dwell on it.

[jerseyjay]

There are two issues: 1) the ethics of standardizing grades across different teachers; 2) the practical nature of getting the exams back once the students have them.

I'll leave number one alone.

There is nothing unethical about asking for the exams back--it might just not work. And it would be unethical to lower a student's grade if he throws out the exam but already has a grade. So you might ask your chair if you could do this with another exam.

For what it is worth, I always put on my syllabus, and emphasize in class, that students need to keep all returned work till the end of the semester. (Usually in case I put the wrong grade down in the book and there is a question.)